Thursday, May 8, 2014

Today was my Mom’s retirement party and I wanted to wear a
dress, but it was really, really windy, so I decided to go with a maxi dress. The event was really casual, just an after-school party for teachers, and this outfit fit the occasion. I
thrifted this dress in March for $5, and was excited to finally wear it. I love all of the colors in it! Again, it was windy, so
I thought I needed something over it. I was going to go with a denim jacket,
thinking of an outfit or two that I had pinned, but then I saw my coral
blazer, and realized that the coral in the blazer matched the coral in the
dress perfectly! Looking on Pinterest now, after the fact, apparently this has
been done which I guess means I am officially “ok!” I added some flip flops
that matched the teal in the skirt, and a coral necklace, and was ready to go!
Pardon the head cut-off, my sister came to pick me up since some dickwad broke a window
in my car yesterday for no reason and I cannot drive it. She's short, so she clipped off the top of my head in the picture, and I just finished the job the rest of the way.

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

All right, I am going to try and post a bit more, especially about my weight loss (I've lost 21 pounds!), thrifting, and outfits of the day. The other day, my sister and I did
Zumba, went to lunch, and went thrifting. The haul was great, as
always…and this time, I shopped smartly! I vowed to not go much over the $40
that my Grandma gave me, and I only spent $47! I have been reading up on smart shopping (see the blogs Recovering Shopaholic and Exploring My Style if you'd like to read who have been inspiring me)
and both of those blogs encourage shoppers to do a few things: try EVERYTHING on, even at the nasty thrift
store, only buy things if you absolutely love them (no “I love this except…”
allowed), and though these tips seem so obvious, I am HORRIBLE at them. My last
thrifting trip, I bought two tops I didn’t really love, and
now I already am thinking about getting rid of them! Ridiculous! This time,
however, I stuck to these rules, and it paid off. I abandoned some new with tags $3
Old Navy shorts because I didn’t like the frayed hem. That is so unlike me! I
also abandoned an Express sleeveless essential blouse that looked pretty good
on because I did not want to go over budget. It helped also that Savers was
kind of a rip-off that day, and lately in general. I don't know if it's because thrifting has become more popular, or it was just the days that I hit it, but I'm sorry, $7 for something like a worn Merona shirt should not be acceptable. Luckily, I did have a 30% off coupon, so I was able to stretch my money further, but I still had to eliminate a few pieces that I did like, just because sticking to a $40 budget was a bit rough that day.

I apologize for not getting individual pictures of the items, but I will next time.

Left to right (All prices are pre-discount, I paid 30% off the prices as marked)Brown and White printed dress, EnFocus Studio- This dress looked fabulous on, and I can't wait to wear it. It'd be both work and summer appropriate. $8. White Lace Tee, Cynthia Rowley, $6. I love Cynthia Rowley, AND I've been wanting a white lace tee for some time. So versatile! Blue sleeveless shirt with beaded trim, Ann Taylor, $5. This shirt is perfect for work or play, depending on how it's styled, it looks flawless, and you can't beat Ann Taylor for $5! Lace Sleeve Sweatshirt, American Eagle, $4. Sweatshirts that are dressy are very much on-trend, and this one was adorable and CHEAP for that day. It was pretty new (tag said 2012 or 2013) and barely worn. There was actually another one just like it that was oatmeal with cream sleeves, but my sister and I agreed that this one looked better on me. Apt. 9 Printed Skirt: $8. When I saw this skirt, it was love at first sight, so even though it was marked kind of high, I went for it...especially once I tried it on. Printed dress, LC by Lauren Conrad (Size 6, go me! ;-) $7. I love LC's dresses, and this one looked fabulous on.

This is a Loft dress that I found in near mint condition. It was marked at $9.99, which is high for thrifting for me, but I fell in love with the color and the way it fit me.

Not pictured are a pair of denim Faded Glory Shorts,
size 10, 4.99. I normally never buy Wal- Mart clothes at the thrift shop, but
these fit well, were really cheap, and were new with tags, so I made an exception. They
replace two pair of WM shorts I paid full price for that are way too big
now. Also, a reversible sweatshirt knit skirt! So on trend, and it was 2.99! It
has a cobalt side and a navy side! For that reason, it had no tags, but it had
the AE eagle embroidered at the hem (sucker Savers employees, muah ha ha!!!) And finally, an Apt. 9 casual sleeveless top in a white, blue, yellow, and mint floral print. All in all, I loved everything I bought, and can't wait to wear it all. And, all of that for $47! It's quite the steal for somebody who is in need of a LOT of new clothes. That being said, I still have far too many clothes, but I have been trying to weed out what no longer fits and replace it with some high quality stuff that does. I will discuss my process in a later post...

Thursday, April 24, 2014

I am just terrible at consistently blogging, so I thought that maybe I could share something with the few lovely people who have so nicely followed me...I finally created an Instagram account, and I have been taking outfit pictures there, so if anyone is interested in seeing those or following me there, my username is lovecolorandlife (link here. Link I feel as though I am far more likely to be consistent there than I am here, as all that is involved over there is snapping and uploading pictures, and now that I have an iphone, it's super easy to take outfit pics. I need to master the art of the full body selfie to get the entire outfit...in time!

Since I am here already, though, I'll share with you all a few things. One, since I last wrote, I really did buckle down and lost almost 20 pounds! I did this through following Weight Watchers and attending meetings (the most doable strategy that I know of!) I have thus been really weeding through my clothes and trying to get rid of not only the things that are too big but also curate an entire closet of pieces that I love. It's been a big project and it's been taking up my free time...and it's still ongoing! I have been putting some stuff on ebay (here if anyone is interested) and will continue to do so; I also want to try Plato's Closet to try and locally sell some pieces.

In the in-between (I still have about 10-12 pounds to go until goal) I have been doing a LOT of thrifting to acquire some new-to-me clothes in my new size without spending a pretty penny. I have become quite the pro at thrifting and often find flawless items with good labels. You just have to be willing to dedicate a few hours to the cause, and yes, it does get tiring, but here are some labels that I have found lately, all well under ten bucks a piece: Cynthia Rowley (one of my favorite labels!), Escada, Loft, Ann Taylor, Express, LC by Lauren Conrad, American Eagle (mainly for jeans, I live for their jeans), Pink by Victoria's Secret (I'm a fan of their raglan tees, not so much the ones that scream PINK as I am 30!), Anthropologie, Gap, and many, many more. When I get to my goal weight, I do plan to treat myself to a regular shopping trip and buy some nice pieces new, but until then, thrifting is holding me over quite nicely!

Sunday, January 5, 2014

I feel cruddy. In November and the first third of December, I was consistently exercising each and every day, and no matter what I ate, I maintained my weight. The past few weeks, however, have been something of a disaster. I am afraid to get on the scale. I see the bloat in my tummy. It's time to get back on track. What I really want to do is go back to clean eating. Veggies and fruits of all varieties. Lean meats. Protein, such as milk and cheese. Whole grains only. My hubby is actually ready to buckle down and do this, too. We still have some food left over from our big New Year's bash which is far from clean, but I am so over it. Yesterday, I made some homemade applesauce (Easy Peasy Applesauce, 100daysofrealfood.com) and it was delicious! It didn't need any added honey, maple syrup, or worst of all, sugar. I think that I will be using it over the next several days as an add-in to oatmeal or a snack on its own. Here's my tentative menu for today. For the next week, I really want to be strict, with lots and lots of steamed veggies, brown rice, no dressings for salad, etc, just until I lose some water weight. Then, I will reintroduce things like whole wheat pastas and breads. I find that following the 100 Days of Real Food Guidelines work well for me.

Lunch
Salad with chicken breast, blue cheese, other veggies, with lemon and avocado as a "dressing"

Dinner
Here's the hard part...there's one last thing from NYE I wanted to eat, which is a piece of potato pie that my SIL made. I might eat this. If I am really good, I will instead eat brown rice and steamed veggies. Haha.

I just want to kick start my weight loss again and lose all of the water weight that is causing me to look seven months pregnant. Hopefully, it works. It usually does. And then it helps me to eat sensibly for months, which is a definite plus.